Tracking is a basic surveillance function that is important in numerous commercial and military applications. Increasingly, there is a requirement to augment, or even replace, the radar technology traditionally used for this task with optical tracking systems.
Key applications include missile tracking for theater and national defense systems, battlefield defensive systems (e.g. sniper detection), homeland security defensive systems, and the like. However, the utility of existing optical tracking systems for these missions is limited by their speed, accuracy and detection capability.
Needs exist for extending these limits to new operational regimes.